God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will send e-mails to each other creating action plans and purposely not CC or talk about it with any of the angels. After about two weeks of this, Gabriel over hears a “private” phone call between JC and the Lord and immediately sends a scathing e-mail to all the angels (It is a small office which they all share after all). The angels then decide to organize a meeting WITHOUT the Trinity to figure out how to handle the whole mess. The board finds out about the Angel meeting, and they want in. The Trinity hasn’t been informed. All the while, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are creating a strategic plan detailing strategies and desired outcomes, none of which involve the angels OR the board. Tension mounts between the Trinity and the angels/board. More scathing e-mails. Neither party is talking to the other and can’t figure out why. After about ten years of this (and total neglect of what’s happening on Earth) Heaven is awarded a grant, and God brings in a consultant. After three months of meetings, SWOT analysis, and organizational training, the Trinity, the angels, and the board FINALLY are on the same page. Only then will Gabriel realize no one had CC’d the four horsemen.

Seems the Trinity and the angels needed a lesson in teamwork and proper planning.

Very clever (and adorable, I must say) TV spot for UK’s Drench Water.

Stay drenched.

Yes, I think so.

Spotify is now saying that they must delay their U.S. launch. They don’t want to launch here with a paid-only model, and the big labels are signaling that they won’t have it. From the NYTimes last month, quoting Sony Music: “We like Spotify as our partner in Europe, but we would like them to move more toward a paid subscription environment.”

And that isn’t the only bad news. MySpace Music is “almost certainly” going to severely restrict free streaming to users, say multiple sources, and move to a paid model. “They are spending $20 million/month on streaming royalties, and that just isn’t sustainable,” said one source with knowledge of MySpace’s relationships with the labels. Other sources have said that MySpace’s royalty payments are much lower, but don’t deny that the service is a cash hole.

MySpace won’t comment on this story, but they have a deadline to all this. The Google search deal is up next year, and $300 million/year in revenue will evaporate. Changes need to happen soon. The last payment of $75 million is due on June 20, 2010.

Although it’s been pretty annoying clicking dozens of links to Spotify playlists this last year only to be greeted with the message “Why is Spotify not available in my country?” each and every time, I can’t say I’m all too bothered by news that the service might be introduced as a paid-only model here in the US since I’ve never actually used it. No loss, no gain right? However, this Myspace business is where things start to hit home.

Let’s face it, Myspace may have been the go-to social networking site of yesteryear but Facebook has left it in the dust. Myspace’s saving grace has been its ability to provide users a place where they can easily access information on millions of bands and artists, from free streaming tracks to videos to tour dates to general music news. Myspace even created a new channel of communication between fan and artist that hadn’t really existed before, something that I have personally benefited from on more than one occasion and I know others have too. And really, what’s the first thing the majority of us do when we’re recommended a new band? We check out their Myspace. Where exactly will we stand when we’re forced to pay for this service? Perhaps that may not even be the most important question to ask since goodness knows we’re all very capable of finding free music elsewhere and sites like Lala.com and Google Music are quickly gaining momentum. Not to mention, news and tour dates could just as easily be accessed through Facebook fan pages and new social networking sites like Twitter are making the conversation between fan and artist even more direct, easier, and faster. When free music streaming is restricted to something like 10 tracks a day, what will be the point in seeking out Myspace? As a paid-only model, will we even find a need for Myspace in the realm of social media?

Though admittedly I haven’t felt compelled to log into Myspace more than a handful of times in the last six months–mostly due to the annoying competition it seemed to be having with Facebook regarding who could rip off the others’ features the fastest, but that’s a story for a whole different occasion–the thought that Myspace may have gasped its last breath is pretty depressing considering the site has been more than good to me these last few years when it came to discovering new music. But if it decides to take that step towards a paid-only model, I can’t say I’ll follow. And sadly, I don’t think many other users will either. Whatever the decision, it will certainly be interesting to see what the future holds for Myspace in the coming year and beyond.

The trick to having a viral hit is to tap into the zeitgeist. That helps explain why an agency staffer’s double-middle-fingers resignation letter ricocheted around Twitter over the weekend, garnering more than a few knowing smiles from those in the trenches.

You can find a screencap of the original letter here on TheChive.com. As amusing as the letter may be, one can’t help but think how relived some Chicago agency must be that its identity wasn’t revealed. Good or bad, once you go viral there’s no going back.

At one extreme: Here’s the coolest job application I ever received. A pizza box full of items to show that the applicant gets who we are and what we do.

Read more about this interesting job application here and start thinking about ways to jazz up your resume!

Pretty remarkable, isn’t it?

Although my generation has certainly reaped the benefits of the world wide web, we are also the first learning to deal with the backlash of too much readily available information. More specifically: information about ourselves. We came across social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook and enjoyed spending time talking to friends, uploading photos of weekend shenanigans, sharing information about our hobbies, likes, dislikes, and even inside jokes. While we were enjoying what seemed like harmless fun, we forgot about the important people who could come across these profiles with a simple Google search: admissions offices, current employers, co-workers, and future employers to name a few.

In an interesting blog entry, best-selling author Seth Godin recounts how a friend utilized Google search for a bit of extra information on three individuals vying for a housekeeping job:

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, “binge drinking.”

Needless to say, this person didn’t get the job nor did the other two applicants whose Google search results were just as underwhelming. Humorous as Godin’s story may be, their unlucky situation serves as a perfect example for why we must be careful about the information we publish about ourselves on the web. Godin offers some advice on personal branding in the age of Google:

Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.

As future professionals, whether in the field of public relations or another, it is important that we always ensure the content we publish onto the web about ourselves is highlighting our strengths and assets. In the end, it’s not worth losing a great opportunity over that drunken photo of yourself at a party, or is it?

I think I would much rather walk past a giant cup of coffee everyday than that giant egg across the street from Wrigley Field. However, I do think both ads are very creative and wonderfully executed.

Personally, I most often find myself living the world of  ”spectators.” By definition, a spectator is a consumer of social content– an individual who reads blogs and forums, watches videos on Youtube, and listens to podcasts. I have a feeling this is where the majority of us find ourselves. And you know what? It’s not exactly a bad thing. While we may not be actively participating in the creation of content on the web, being a spectator and utilizing social media technologies to stay connected to what’s happening in the world around us is better than remaining inactive and rendering ourselves completely clueless.

But a little growth never hurt anyone, right? Personally, I feel it is important for me to become a more active collector. As someone who is about to enter one of the fastest moving and growing industries, it is very important I start looking at what’s out there, what’s making waves in the world of advertising and public relations. AdAge provides the Power  150, a list of over one hundred influential marketing/advertising/public relations blogs. With the help of Google Reader, I have started collecting and reading some of these “power blogs” on a daily basis (some favorites include AdFreak and PR-Squared). It has been interesting seeing how the concepts we learn and discuss everyday in class are being applied in the real world. Right now.

Since learning about social technographics®, I can’t help but categorize all my online activity into the various usage levels. It’s actually been rather amusing. For instance by writing and publishing this very blog post, I am considered a “creator.” This contribution to the online universe, small as it may be, is helping build and strengthen my utilization of social media technologies.

Google and Yahoo! are internet veterans, both sites have been around for over ten years. Having only launched in 2004, Facebook already ranks third with more than 250 million registered users, each spending an average of 28 minutes per day on the popular website. While it would be safe to assume the majority of college students spend much more than a half hour a day on Facebook, it’s interesting to point out that one of Facebook’s fastest growing demographics is adults 35 years and older. Facebook is no longer just an online social community for 18 to 25 year olds, their parents are also getting in on the action. After all, Facebook “helps you connect and share with the people in your life”, so why wouldn’t adults 35 and over utilize the popular service to keep in touch with faraway relatives and reconnect with old friends? But as Facebook continues to grow, one can only wonder how much longer it will all last. After all, it seems like just yesterday we were basking in the glory of Myspace.

After a successful ad campaign in which Hulu joked it was “an evil plot to destroy the world“, the company who publicly launched a little over a year ago is already ranking in the top 40 most visited sites by Americans. Hulu offers free high definition streaming video of popular shows and films from networks such as FOX, ABC, and NBC with minor advertising interruptions. Though Hulu’s services are only available within the U.S., the unprecedented success of the website and the negative financial effects it can cause the industry have already began to worry entertainment companies. With television ratings already dwindling away much to the chagrin of network executives, is it only a matter of time before our televisions join our walkmans and VCRs in the Land of Discarded and Forgotten Technological Wonders? Is Hulu really the future of television?